


Make Me A Home In The Wind

by Adarian



Series: History of Middle Earth AUs and Explorations [5]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Gen, M/M, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-14 23:59:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10546558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adarian/pseuds/Adarian
Summary: After hearing a conversation between Gimli and Eowyn about how few dwarven women there are, Legolas asks Gimli if he is married. Their sharing of cultures reveals a vast difference in elven and dwarven concepts of love. Legolas discusses his own reasons why at his age he is not bonded and does not intend to be.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Quick answers to your unasked question: No, I haven't swapped fandoms. I have three fics in my docket and this is the one that got done first and I really needed to post something since I'm having really bad writer's block and need validation. I once again blame History of Middle-Earth on this one as a demographics and logistics problem lol

It began as a joke. Eowyn had made a comment about dwarf women and Gimli defended the merits of the bearded beauties. Somehow in the teasing back and forth, the fact had come up that there were few dwarven women born and that he was too ugly to have such attention until he came to Rohan. 

Legolas waited Eowyn had left and both he and Gimli were in the saddle again. His question nagged at him, more than it should have, but it would bother Legolas until he asked it.

"Are you married then?"

Gimli raised an eyebrow as if amused. "No, Master Elf, I am not."

Legolas asked, "Will you marry?"

Gimli considered this for a moment and shook his head. "No, I think not. I am not old yet, but I am too old for any maid to fall in love with. And I do not have what it takes to be a husband or a father, I think. It is different with dwarves as it is among men and I suppose elves as well. It is a great change and one I could not see making."

"What sort of change?" Legolas asked.

Gimli teased, "Must I explain every aspect of marriage to you? Surely after a few thousand years you must have come to some conclusions about where children come from, after all."

"But I would hear how it is among dwarves, if you do not think it impolite to ask. With so few women, it is...puzzling how it all must function."

Gimli agreed, "As your kind is to me. Is it true how elves marry?"

Legolas' ears felt pink. "Tell me of your people first, then we can discuss mine."

Gimli said, "Fine then. I said before that for every four dwarven babies, three of them will be boys. So when women are grown, they may offer marriage to a man. If they accept, they marry and retire to the home. Married pairs are uncommon, you see, and any two who can make and raise children must be protected. A father and husband does not go into battle, does not take up arms unless there is dire need. They become defenders of the homestead."

"And women are just expected to keep asking until they find a man that says yes?"

Gimli chuckled. "And they say that elves are too romantic for their own good. No, my friend, women ask but one man. And if he declines, then she is free to live her life however she chooses. Many unwed women serve alongside men in battle and at the forge. They are certainly encouraged to marry, but that is mostly out of practicality and not out of some strange notion that they are lesser. Our lassie Eowyn over there would fit well among them. She would ask our poor Aragorn for his hand and once rejected become the master of the battlefield."

"That is unkind," Legolas said, trying not to smile.

"Aye, perhaps, but it simply boggles my mind. She is such a fair girl and with a strong heart. She should not have to be fighting for a man's attention when she should be his world."

Legolas teased, "Who is the romantic now?"

Gimli huffed. "I've answered your questions, now you answer mine."

"I am not finished interrogating you yet," he said. "So what happens to all these unmarried men? Are they forced to walk the earth alone?"

Gimli replied, tenderness slipping into his words. "No, of course not. Nor the women who choose a different life. We are close to our kin, to our cousins and brothers and sisters. We live with our families and with our dearest friends. For us family is not a man and a woman who desire each other. It is just love. Love as it is, however it looks or feels. It is just love."

Legolas murmured, "I see...ask your questions then, dwarf."

Gimli shifted slightly in the saddle and when he grew comfortable leaned against Legolas again. The long journey and little sleep was clearly wearing on him but both of them said nothing. It only led to arguments.

Gimli said, "So are you unmarried then? Have you a wife? Do you have a league of children that you have never mentioned?"

Legolas laughed. "No, I am unmarried."

"Will you marry?" Gimli asked, echoing his earlier question.

Legolas felt a lump form in his throat. "I...I do not know."

Gimli turned slightly to look at him, but his beard covered most of his face, only allowing his skeptical glance to meet his eyes.

"You were not wrong when you said my people were romantics," Legolas replied. "For us, it is a given. Most of us wed when we come of age and we know that we will spend all of eternity with them. An elf can love only once and when their heart and soul is given, it can never be shared again."

"That is a rather big commitment for a young person to make," Gimli commented.

"A hundred years is not so young, but in the face of Ages...yes. But there is little uncertainty for my kind," he explained. "We can look into another's eyes and see that they are wed. We can look upon a true love and know that they have been shaped for us. It is simple in its intensity and once formed cannot be broken."

"But the Lady of Rivendell is at least your age-"

"Arwen is actually quite a bit older than me."

"Then why did she not wed? Aragorn's great forefathers had not been born when she became an adult. Surely that is strange."

"It is," Legolas agreed, "and I do not know her reasons."

"So what are yours?"

Legolas muttered, "That is rather blunt."

"My dear elf, we have traveled over mountains and rivers and crossed strange lands. By foot or by boat or by steed, you and I have not been parted since Lothlorien. I told you of my heart. You should know you can trust me with yours."

Legolas sighed. "It is more complicated. And not something I have discussed with anyone...ever."

Gimli's voice softened. "Lad, you do not have to speak another word. We can discuss something else or just ride silently."

Legolas was unsure how to summarize over a thousand years to a mortal who was only a hair older than he was when it all began. Their cultures were so different, the expectations of their lives so apart. There was so much he would have to explain and even though the dwarf was patient, he feared boring him with such trivial details just to explain something that was certainly not an issue in his homeland.

Legolas finally took a deep breath and began, "I was raised among the Silvan Elves, even though I am Sindarin. My father and his father before him founded the Woodland Realm and those of the forests joined together to create the kingdom that thrives today. I was born many years later. My mother was Silvan, though she passed when I was just a boy. I think five or six. My father grieved and I was alone. Her sisters and cousins were truly the ones who raised me. I was just another child among them. The Woodland elves have many more children than the Sindarin do. I was the only one from my father's side born in several hundred years. Among the common people I was one of dozens. I was happy. I felt loved."

Gimli murmured, "I am sorry, for your mother's sake."

Legolas shook his head. "It is alright. Many perished the first century of the Third Age. Mirkwood was sick and it sickened those who lived in it. I see it at risk now and I think of it then. I have seen Mirkwood ill...now I fear I will see it die..."

Gimli put his hand on his and Legolas murmured, "I am sorry. I know that the fates of trees and roots is not something a dwarf should fear for."

"If it moves you to such sorrow, then it is something to fear," Gimli replied. "Go on, Legolas. If you feel you wish to."

Legolas regained his composure. "Yes. So...so I was of the forests when I came of age. My friends began to pair, but the only love I had found was of my home. I had close friends, dear friends, but I did not feel the devotion I had been told my whole life to expect. I grew older. My friends had children and their children came of age and had children of their own. I was...I suppose about 300 when my father decided that it was time for me to find a wife."

"And did the King find you one?"

Legolas answered, "He found me three. The only three Sindarin elves that were unwed and close to my age. All three were lovely and all three bonded with lovely Sindarin men within the year. Then my father conceded and started to look for a bride among the Silvan. But those who raised me and loved me best knew that there was no bride waiting among them for me. Nor was there a soul upon Middle-Earth that I was meant to wed. When my mother's sisters shared this with Thranduil, he was angry. He thought that I was being stubborn or that I was too proud. But that was not the truth."

Gimli asked gently, "What was the truth?"

"That I had no true love," Legolas replied, "and I didn't mourn that. Whatever I was formed for, it did not involve a wife or child. Since we have left Rivendell it feels clearer and clearer to me. When the Lady Galadriel blessed us, she gave me a bow. To others tokens of affection, of meaning, or tools of hope. But she gave me a weapon, one that I had used every day since. I think I was meant to fight in this war and perhaps...perhaps to die in this war, as my Grandfather died in the last."

Arod slowed and Legolas realized that Gimli had coaxed the horse to a stop. Refugees continued walking past them as Gimli turned to face him. He waved a finger in his face.

"You listen to me, Master Elf," Gimli said gruffly. "I will not hear another word of this. So you do not have some heavenly true love awaiting you. That does not mean you are disposable and it does not mean that you will fall in battle. Perhaps you are destined to be a great warrior, I would have no doubt of that. If you were a dwarf, this would be no issue. Elves. Putting all worth on people making fools of themselves and pining and romance and lovemaking. I tell you that as long as I am at your side, you will not be falling in battle."

Legolas slowly smiled. "Is that how dwarves express friendship? Insulting another friend's culture and emotional needs?"

Gimli's tone softened. "It is how this dwarf does."

"Then I will take it as affection and not a slight," Legolas replied. 

Gimli cleared his throat. "We should move on. We are holding up the line."

Legolas whispered to Arod and the horse returned to the path. He realized that Gimli's hand was still on his and he squeezed it gently before picking up the reins again.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like every time you write a platonic romance fic the Good Professor pops up from the Halls of Mandos and gives you a spiritual high five because the dude was all about love and also like if demisexuality was well into the mainstream in the first half of the 1900s I would bet you like five bucks that Tolkien would have identified with it. 
> 
> Also I feel bad about the burn on poor Eowyn's love life but like she gets Faramir at the end who is basically Perfect Human Being. Faramir is basically written like every other Tolkien woman is written and it is wonderful. 
> 
> As well, I went back and forth on the word lovemaking because like Tolkien used it in the whole "let me tell you how much I love you and look I got your name tattooed on my chest and I've rented us a U-Haul" thing instead of sexy times. Eventually I just went with it. YOLO.


End file.
